Is it possible that Spring has arrived? Today the sun is shining – after 20+ continuous days of rain – and the temperature is +4 (Celsius).
Even my daffodils think spring must be around the corner – they are brave enough to poke their heads above the ground!
It seems that I can not stick to just one project from start to finish. I have several on the go at any one point in time and find that I switch between projects often.
The inspiration for one of my latest projects was an article in the 2002 issue of Quilt Almanac. (I say latest project meaning that I have been working on it off and on lately. I started this quilt top many years ago and it is truly a UFO in need of completion!) The quilt in the magazine was made by Sandy Henry and is referred to as the traditional Rail Fence.
This is my version which I have named, Rail Fence Around the World. I have finished this project to the binding stage. The binding is sewn onto the quilt by machine and I just have to hand stitch it to the back of the quilt. My goal is to completely finish this quilt before next Wednesday night so that I can show it off at our guild meeting show and tell that night.
This is a close up of the quilt showing the machine quilting that I did on my long arm. The quilting pattern is Baptist Fan and is a favorite of mine.
I am also working on the blocks for a scrap quilt that I started between Christmas and New Year’s. (No new fabrics were purchased for this project. The goal is to finish this one with fabrics from my existing stash. I had many strips of fabric cut already just waiting to be put to use.) The pattern is Fun With Bricks and can be found on Quiltville Custom Quilting’s web site at the following address: http://quiltville.com/funwithbricks.shtml . Bonnie suggests making 30 blocks in her pattern. I have 19 made so far–only 11 more to go! The block finishes at 12″ square so this will be a nice-sized quilt when it is finished.
This was a quilt that had been on the UFO pile for years! This quilt was finished in time to be given away at Christmas to Brenda and Wayne.
This quilt is the Courthouse Steps pattern that was quilted in an overall meander on the long arm.
Happy New Year Everyone!
The main purpose of this blog is to keep my quilting friends in touch with my current projects and to provide a venue to receive their valuable feedback. However, I will also insert the occasional non-quilt related items to keep my family and non-quilting friends interested as well.
The beginning of a new year brings with it a renewed commitment to previous resolutions and starting over with a clean slate. I have been reflecting the last few days on last year’s resolution to finish UFOs–as many as possible. I feel I have kept that resolution–however, there are still UFOs in the pile! I listed out my UFOs last year and stopped writing at 46. The list is now down to 35 so some of those projects are now complete.
This year’s resolution is to continue on with last year’s resolution of finishing as many UFOs as possible. However, I have added to my resolution list for this year to reduce my stash–I will only start a new project if I can utilize my existing stash. The exception will be to purchase backing fabric.
I purchased an APQS long arm quilting machine in May this year and “Lucky” is definitely facilitating the completion of my UFOs at a much faster rate!